Photo: Movistar Team

Photo: Movistar Team

Carapaz continues to perform strong

It was an incredibly fast stage 11 in the 2018 Giro d’Italia -above 45kph average-, crossing the ‘Equator’ of the race as one Ecuadorian rider, Richard Carapaz, continues to impress and honour the Movistar Team colours with solid performances all around. The 24-year-old athlete from Carchí, a pure climber, had to tackle today the explosive ‘walls’ of the Marche region, where his more classic skills uphill forced him to defend himself to finish 11th, 23″ behind solid race leader Simon Yates (MTS).

Carapaz was well protected all day by the Movistar Team, which – just like him – continues to improve every day. It was a fine performance especially on the final 30km by Dayer Quintana, Rubén Fernández and Eduardo Sepúlveda, helping ‘Richie’ out to advantage on the climbs and get through an important selection into the field created by the first, violent ascent to Osimo, 5km before the end. The Ecuadorian remains in 5th place overall, 1’56” behind Yates and 52″ off the podium, with Carlos Betancur in 14th both in the stage and the GC, now 3’29” after the Maglia Rosa.

The Giro will seekon Thursday (Imola) and Friday (Nervesa) for two more sprinter-suited stages before tackling the biggest mountains in this year’s ‘Corsa Rosa’ starting on Saturday, at the Monte Zoncolan.

REACTION / Richard Carapaz:

“I’m really happy with my performance today. We knew it was going to be difficult because of the explosive ramps in the finale, so our only goal today was staying as close as possible to the top contenders and save the white jersey. The cobblestones made it harder for me, I struggled a little bit, but I was lucky not to lose too much time, and we’re still in the fight. The next two stages look easier on the profile, but we will have to remain as focused as we’ve been for the past few days. We must go day-by-day and work hard, stay together with our team-mates to remain at the front and avoid any troubles. With the strong squad we will have, I’m sure we will get through this with no setbacks. Yates is showing to be the strongest man on course, even more so in finishes like these which suit him really well. He was unstoppable today.”